This Lady Is Trying to Kill Me - Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Tail

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Boom!

The blue sky darkened as thunder rumbled and clouds gathered.

The windy rain sprinkled on the endless river, and a few ships could be seen appearing and disappearing on the horizon. The towns on both sides of the river gradually lit up with lights.

Ye Jingtang, dressed in his black aristocratic robe made of water cloud brocade, with a saber hanging from his waist, was standing at the bow of the ship with an oil-paper umbrella in his hand. The deck behind him was full of cloth, tea leaves, porcelain, and other miscellaneous items. They were covered by oilcloth, and two disciples of the Red Flower Pavilion were fastening the ropes holding them in place.

Starting from the day before yesterday at River Shore Wharf, they had already sailed along the Clear River day and night for two days. They would arrive at West King Town at the border of Yun Province tomorrow morning.

There were no entertainment facilities in this world. Running a ship was hard work. Every day, other than patrolling back and forth to prevent the goods from falling and the ship from hitting reefs, Ye Jingtang practiced martial arts on the deck.

Although Third Lady was also on the ship, there were six disciples dressed as laborers on board. As the sect master, she had to maintain the posture of an expert, and it wasn’t appropriate for her to dress up like a delicate and charming woman and talk nonsense. So she had been staying in her cabin with Xiuhe.

The riverway from the capital to West King Town was the main trade route for the capital. There were many ships coming and going, and he could see patrolling ships at all times. Logically speaking, it was very safe.

But after two days of observation, Ye Jingtang still felt that something was amiss. He stood at the bow of the ship and looked back. He could see that there was a small merchant ship behind them. It was about two kilometers away, and he couldn’t see the name clearly. “Li Jian, who owns the ship behind? Do you know it?”

Li Jian, a young man fastening the oilcloth tightly beside the pile of goods, was the grandson of Helm Master Li Sanwen. In terms of seniority, he and Ye Jingtang were fellow disciples.

Li Jian was wearing a bamboo bamboo hat. Hearing this, he walked up to him and stuck his head forward to take a look. He couldn’t see the ship clearly, so he ran into his cabin, brought over a copper cylinder, pulled it open, and focused on the ship. “Hmm… It’s under the Zhang banner, but I’ve never seen it before. It’s probably a small merchant who sells groceries…”

Ye Jingtang was slightly stunned when he saw the bronze telescope. He took it and sized up the lenses. “You even have this?”

Seeing Ye Jingtang’s surprised expression, Li Jian showed a proud expression. “Brother Jingtang, you haven’t seen it before, right? This thing is called a thousand-kilometer mirror. It only spread in Northern Liang recently.”

Ye Jingtang was no stranger to telescopes, but this was indeed the first time he had seen one in this world. He picked up the telescope and looked behind the ship. He saw a small cargo ship filled with groceries and a man wearing a bamboo hat with a spear covering the ship with oilcloth.

It was difficult to see the facial details of the bamboo hat man from two kilometers away. After Ye Jingtang observed for a while, he returned the telescope to Li Jian. “There’s something wrong with this ship. When we set off the day before yesterday, it was hanging behind us, neither far nor close. According to my experience with escorting, there’s a high chance that it’s on the lookout for an opportunity to rob us.”

“Brother Jingtang, don’t be overly suspicious. There are thousands of ships going back and forth every day on this waterway. It’s normal to have ships going the same way. Perhaps it’s because they saw that our ship is big, so they’re traveling together for safety.”

At this point, Li Jian put away the telescope and gestured to his fellow disciples on the deck. “Moreover, there are at most three to five people on that small ship. Our pavilion lord is on our ship, and there are still two Grandmasters, eleven hall masters, and more than a hundred helm masters waiting in West King Town. I really don’t believe that anyone in Jianghu dares to rob the Red Flower Pavilion’s headquarters.”

Ye Jingtang thought about it and agreed. He shook his head and smiled. “It’s a professional habit. It looks like I’m overthinking. But it’s better to be careful. Take turns watching the ship behind. If there’s anything unusual, immediately warn me.”

“Brother Jingtang, don’t worry. I’m still aware of this.”

After Ye Jingtang finished giving instructions, he changed shifts with the Red Flower Pavilion disciples and went to the back of the merchant ship.

As a cargo ship, the living environment was not good. There were only four cabins on the deck at the stern, and the others had to live below the deck.

Ye Jingtang entered the cabin area and faintly heard a sound coming from a cabin.

“Chirp chirp chirp-”

“Mmhmm-”

It was the bird going crazy and the humming of a woman.

Ye Jingtang’s lips twitched slightly as he walked to Third Lady’s door and entered the cabin.

Even the ‘captain’s’ room wasn’t very big. It was clean and plain, and there was a board bed, a table, and chairs inside. The window was open at the stern, allowing people to see what was going on behind. Other than these things, there was nothing special.

The bird had probably gone crazy from being stifled on the ship. At this moment, it was rolling back and forth on the bed. Xiuhe was sitting beside it and watching it with a smile.

Third Lady was wearing a thin summer dress that revealed half of her fair forearms. She was sitting in front of a bronze mirror, holding a makeup box, and slowly drawing her eyebrows.

Her originally watery almond-shaped eyes, under her careful outlining, looked a little more heroic. The color of her alluring red lips, which specialized in tempting young men, also became light.

Her appearance was still the same, but she looked very serious, cold, and a little fierce. She had the feeling of the Prince of Jing, but she was not as imposing as Dongfang Dumdum due to her height.

“Third Lady, why did you do your makeup like this?”

“Young Master Ye.” Xiuhe hurriedly got up, moved a chair over, and poured tea.

Pei Xiangjun put down the makeup box, turned around, and raised her head. “Does it look good?”

Ye Jingtang sat down on a chair and carefully looked at her beautiful face. “Third Lady, you are beautiful no matter what. But this makeup… I think it’s a little fierce.”

“Hmph-!” Pei Xiangjun picked up the mirror and looked at it. “Clothes make the person. 1 have to meet the hall masters. If 1 look gentle and have no imposing manner, how can I suppress the scene?”

Ye Jingtang was enlightened.

There was nothing much to do on the ship. After struggling for a while, Pei Xiangjun got up, walked behind Ye Jingtang, untied his black hair tie, and let his long hair fall. “1’11 dress you up too.”

Xiuhe was quite interested in this matter and hurriedly ran over. “Let me do it, let me do it…”

Ye Jingtang always dressed cleanly and succinctly, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Seeing that the two women were interested, he didn’t refuse. He sat on the stool with his back straight and let Third Lady and Xiuhe play with him.

Pei Xiangjun held an eyebrow pencil and drew his eyebrows very close to him.

Ye Jingtang was sitting upright. Originally, he didn’t have any evil thoughts, but Third Lady was leaning in front of him. Her red lips were less than a foot away, and he could clearly feel her warm breath on his cheek.

Whoosh!

At first, Ye Jingtang’s eyes were clear, but he slowly felt that something was wrong. He wanted to lean back a little, but there was the watery Xiuhe behind him. If he leaned back, he would probably have to rest his head on her chest. In a dilemma, he could only look straight ahead at the bird tilting its head and looking at them beside him.

Pei Xiangjun noticed Ye Jingtang’s ‘shy’ reaction. A faint smile appeared on her lips, but she didn’t say anything. She only raised her left hand and used her water sleeve to cover her bulging front to prevent Ye Jingtang from feeling uncomfortable.

After working hard for half a day, the two of them finally finished.

Ye Jingtang was relieved from the two double bun sandwiches. He secretly heaved a sigh of relief and picked up the bronze mirror to look at himself. With a jade crown on his head, eyebrows as sharp as knives, and a somewhat evil charm, he looked like a perverted and crazy young master who liked both men and women…

“Uh…” Ye Jingtang was speechless.

After looking at him eagerly a few times, Xiuhe scratched her head. “Young Master, you don’t seem to be as good-looking as before, but you’re still so handsome-”

Pei Xiangjun felt that she didn’t know how to do makeup for men, so she said bitterly, “His foundation is too good. Dressing up too much will only be adding something superfluous and ruin his looks. Forget it…”

While they were talking, Pei Xiangjun’s eyes moved slightly as she looked out the window.

It was raining heavily outside, and the sky had turned dark. She could only see a few boat lights floating in the distance on the dark river. Other than this, there was no movement at all.

Seeing this, Ye Jingtang went to the window with his hand on the hilt of his saber. He scanned the river behind the merchant ship, but the rain was too heavy, and there were some waves on the river. The environment was too complicated, so he couldn’t see anything. “What’s the matter?”

“The sound of water is wrong.”

Pei Xiangjun had stayed in the Pei family for many years and had gone out to sail many times. Her sailing experience was much richer than that of Ye Jingtang, who had escorted on land. She reminded, “Just now, a hundred feet to the right of the stern, something swam across the water. It was either a dolphin or someone from Jianghu approaching secretly.”

Ye Jingtang gripped the hilt of his saber and focused his gaze on the river. “Shall I go down and take a look?”

“When this expert discovered that there was someone at the window, he already knew that he had alerted us and ran away long ago. There are many water bandits robbing merchant ships on the Clear River. They probably saw that our ship is big and wanted to take advantage of us. There’s no need to deal with them. Just pay more attention at night.”

Ye Jingtang wanted to stay in the cabin and protect Third Lady all night, but then he thought about it. Third Lady looked gentle and sweet, but she could actually uproot willows. If a thief really killed his way onto the ship, it would be more likely for Third Lady to protect him.

Therefore, he didn’t open his mouth to make Third Lady roll her eyes. He turned around, bade farewell, and returned to the cabin next door.. He lay on the bed with his saber by his side and paid attention to the movements around the merchant ship…